Greek Railroad Workers Extend Strike for Another 48 Hours Over Deadly Train Crash

ATHENS (Sputnik) - Greek railroad unions have extended the strike till March 10 because of the deadly train accident that killed at least 57 people last week as they demand that the government improve railroad safety, the Greek Federation of Railway Employees (POS) said.

"Our demand is clear. Safe, high-quality public railroads. On Friday, March 10, we are going to present our proposals on resuming the operation of railroads during the scheduled meeting with the Transport Ministry. Then we will review our position because our fight for accountability and travel safety does not end there," POS said in a statement.

Initially, the strike was launched on March 2 and was expected to last 24 hours but has been repeatedly extended.

On Wednesday, a mass rally took place in central Athens in connection with the accident, with around 25,000 people participating in the rally in Syntagma Square near the parliament and another 5,000 people in Klafthmonos Square, according to police estimates.

Later that day, Greek Infrastructure Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said that railroad traffic would resume once the authorities were sure that railroads were completely safe.

On March 1, a passenger train collided with a freight train near the city of Larissa. The passenger train had switched to the freight train's lane before the accident, which brought them both on the same track and resulted in a head-on collision. The head of the Larissa station was arrested. According to reports, he admitted his guilt and said that he had mistakenly sent a passenger train along the wrong track. Railroad workers, in turn, talked about chronic safety issues that authorities have been ignoring for years.